Remembering Viktoriia Roshchyna with Sevgil Musaieva

This is a very special episode of «Yak ty? Ukraine Live».

So far this podcast was all about people living in Ukraine sharing their personal experience of Russia’s war against Ukraine. But this episode is dedicated to someone who can’t speak for herself anymore: To Viktoriia Roshchyna. Viktoriia Roshchyna was an Ukrainian journalist. She was detained twice by Russian occupying forces in Eastern Ukraine. First in spring 2022 and second in August 2023.

Her death was announced to her family on the 10th of October 2024, two weeks prior to this podcast recording. She died on the 19th of September while she was in Russian captivity. Her death was announced to her father only after three weeks by the Russian ministry of defense. Russian authorities named no cause of death.

The remains of Viktoriia Roshchyna are still in Russia, on the day of this podcast recording. And it is unclear when the body will be returned to Ukraine as part of an exchange between Ukraine and Russia.

The official cause of death might be unknown for the near future. But it’s clear who’s ultimately responsible: people who kept her imprisoned.
Viktoriia was held captive for one reason alone: Her work as a journalist.
This podcast episode is dedicated to Viktoriia’s memory and all the work she has done in the past years for giving those people a voice, who would not have been heard otherwise.

I had the opportunity to talk to the editor in chief of Ukrainska Pravda, Sevgil Musaieva. Ukrainska Pravda is the leading online newspaper of Ukraine. I am enormously grateful for her time and the opportunity to talk to her. Her schedule is very tight and she was attending a conference while we were talking. I really hope for your understanding that the audio quality of our talk could be better. Thank you for your understanding.

Resources:
Sevgil Musaieva on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sevgil.musaieva
Sevgil Musaieva on X: https://x.com/SMusaieva
Sevgil Musaieva on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sevvvgil/

Connect with Luzia through Instagram, LinkedIn or visit luziatschirky.ch.
Have you already ordered Luzia's book about her experience reporting from Ukraine?

Order Luzia’s book: https://echtzeit.ch/buch/live-aus-der-ukraine